Doncaster South Yorks UK Shuttle Crew in Town Nov 15th 2007

The crew members of mission STS-118, Endeavour, pose for their official portrait. Pictured from the left are mission specialists Richard A. (Rick) Mastracchio, Barbara R. Morgan, Pilot Charles O. Hobaugh, Commander Scott J. Kelly and mission specialists Tracy E. Caldwell, Canadian Space Agency's Dafydd R. (Dave) Williams, and Alvin Drew Jr. Credit: NASA.

IT might be a small part of a national tour but it's a giant coup for Doncaster...

The last crew of space shuttle Endeavour will be swapping a view of earth for a glance at St George's Church and The Hub when they land in Doncaster next month.

Astronaut Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ, participated in a simulated ARISS school contact during a training session held the last week of September. Barratt is the backup for Michael Fincke on Expedition 18.

Source http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/news/

Bob, WB4APR reminds satellite packet operators of the opportunity of up to 25 passes per day for 2-way keyboard communications with simple packet equipment on 145.825 MHz uplink and downlink.

The 145.825 MHz frequency includes ARISS aboard the ISS, ANDE and PCSAT-1 operating at 1200 baud. Recently GO-32 became available on 435.225 MHz for 9600 baud communications.

APRS Igate Packet gateway stations copying these three packet digipeater satellites on 145.825 feed to the two web pages: http://www.ariss.net and http://pcsat.aprs.org

For additional information regarding the GO-32 435.225 MHz 9600 baud operation see: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/GO32-ops.html

An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at Isummasaqvik School, Quaqtag, QC Canada on 10 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:32 UTC.

The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and ON4ISS. The contact should be audible in most of Europe. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. In addition, the audio should be available via IRLP and EchoLink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

Population 333
Northern tip of the Province of Quebec, near Ungava Bay.

The seven STS-120 astronauts are due to fly into NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday evening, in advance of next week's launch dress rehearsal activities. During the week, the astronauts and ground crews are scheduled to participate in various simulated countdown activities and training exercises.

Over the past week, space shuttle Discovery rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A, where the payload for its mission was installed in the shuttle's cargo bay. The payload includes the Italian-built U.S. Harmony module, which will be delivered to the International Space Station.

As the clock counts down to a crew change aboard the International Space Station and a visit by space shuttle Discovery, the Expedition 15 crew wrapped up a busy week of preparations.

Flight Engineer Clay Anderson installed the centerline camera in a hatch window in the Unity node Friday. The camera will serve as an alignment aid when astronauts use a robotic arm to guide the Harmony node into place. Harmony is being delivered to the station aboard space shuttle Discovery, set to launch Oct. 23.

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/sarex/48hour/msg01111.html

An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with scouts at the Prairielands Council, Boy Scouts of America, Space Jamboree Camp Robert Drake (Oakwood, IL), Champaign, Illinois USA on 06 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 19:11 UTC.

The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and VK4KHZ. The contact should be audible along Eastern portions of Australia. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. In addition, the audio should be available via IRLP and EchoLink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at the Town of Anamizu ARISS School Contact Executive Committee, Anamizu-town , Housu-gun Ishikawa, Japan on 06 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 09:23 UTC.

The contact will be a direct between stations NA1SS and 8J9ISS. The contact should be audible in most of Japan. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

On June 6, 2006, the Town of Anamizu ARISS School Contact Executive Committee was established and started operations toward its implementation. This committee is led by the Superintendent of the Anamizu Town Board of Education and also includes teachers from the six elementary and junior high schools in Anamizu, the Ishikawa Polytechnic College, and members from the Anamizu Town Board of Education. Past activities began with the application submission for ARISS School Contact in July of 2006 and continued with student activities in July of 2007, including building lessons (making and launching of water rockets from soft drink bottles), the Tanabata gStar Festivalh night sky observation, webpage creation lesson and a rehearsal for communication with the space station.

Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, ARRL Assistant Manager, Membership & Volunteer Programs Department wrote this week, "After review, ARRL will permit contacts through the ISS (Earth - ISS - Earth) to be counted towards satellite endorsement for WAS and DXCC. This applies to contacts made via the onboard repeater equipment provided that the equipment does not hold and re-transmit information. Contacts with the ISS do not receive any award credit. Further information will be available on the LoTW website." See: http://www.arrl.org/lotw/

Story at http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/news/

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With space shuttle Discovery now at its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the next major milestone for the upcoming STS-120 mission is a full launch dress rehearsal.

The shuttle arrived at the pad near noon EDT Sunday on top of a giant vehicle called the crawler-transporter. The crawler-transporter began carrying Discovery out of Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building at 6:47 a.m., traveling less than 1 mph during the 3.4 mile journey. Discovery was firmly on the launch pad, or hard down, at 1:15 p.m.

Discovery is targeted to launch Oct. 23 on a 14-day mission to the International Space Station. The shuttle's seven crew members will add a module to the space station that will serve as a port for installing additional international laboratories. The crew also will move the station's first set of solar arrays to a permanent location and redeploy them.